5. 4. Statement: The Interim Report of the Parliamentary Review of Health and Social Care

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:23 pm on 11 July 2017.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 4:23, 11 July 2017

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think the way we deal with our elderly population in future will be the way that we are judged as a nation, so it’s critical that we get this right. I think there are some very eminent professionals on this review board, and I’m looking forward to hearing their final recommendations. But I think one thing’s come across very clearly in this report, and in others, and that is that the current situation is unsustainable because of the demographic challenges that we are facing. So, what we need is some radical thinking. I’ve always been of the view that elderly care should form a part of an economic development strategy, as well as being a social and health strategy. Some of the ideas that we’ve been proposing in pilots in the economic development plan for rural Wales actually do that. It brings together this idea of economic development and care being part of the same thing. And I would encourage the Minister really to speak to his colleagues about how we really, comprehensively, have an all-Government approach to this; it cannot be simply in the silos of health and care. We have to extend it beyond that.

Now, over the past few months, I've also brought a group of experts to do some blue-skies thinking together on how we tackle this issue of care in Wales in the long term. And I think we're very aware that you’re firefighting, that, actually, there’s a problem now. We're trying to do some broader thinking in an atmosphere where we are able to say things that are difficult to say. And what we've done, following a discussion with the chair of the parliamentary review team, is that we’ve focused on areas where the review is not concentrating. So, despite the suggestion in the interim report that there’s a need for capital planning, it doesn't really focus on the issue of buildings and housing relating to care, although there’s an appreciation that more care will have to be done at home. And, crucially, this review doesn't look at the issue of financing care, either.

So, I think, in Wales, we should be leading, and, to do that, we need to find some answers to these difficult questions. But we will only do that if we work together on these issues, and it's got to be beyond Plaid and Labour. I'm really glad that already we’re extending beyond that, but we have to answer this cross-party or we simply won't find a solution, because these are really, really difficult conversations to have with the public.

And just finally on that point of communication, we have to appreciate that communication with the public—. You know, there are so many people who don't understand that actually you have to pay for your own care home now. They don't appreciate that. So, if we’re suggesting something different then we've got to be aware, people have got to be aware, of the current situation before we suggest other things in future.

And just finally—